Chapter 14: (Side B) Class Transfer

Alex Brown was a typical American sophomore with a course study focusing on the arts and music as he wasn't overly gifted in the sciences. He stood several inches shy of six feet, a lean physique without much muscle, dull green eyes and mid length mousy-brown hair. He wasn't particularly attractive, but definitely wasn't ugly.

He attended a high school in a considerably sized country town located in Wisconsin. It wasn't a small town, boasting a population of nearly 40,000 people, but neither was it populated to the level of being considered a city.

Alex was a bit of an introvert, he didn't go out much, and didn't really fit in with any of the cliques of friends which formed in the school.

Because of this, he wasn't particularly bullied, but he didn't have any friends at school and was left out of most social activities. He kept his head down in classes while not trying to pay attention, but he heard people gossiping about the recent pallet fire they had, who ended up sleeping with who that night, and so forth.

Apparently, one of the girls in his class had a pregnancy scare recently too after one such night. She was quite pretty too and he had a crush on her for the past six months, so he considered it would be a shame for her to suddenly become pregnant, not that the thought of her sleeping with someone else made him feel any better.

America was increasingly becoming more aware of themselves as the news was filled with debates and rallies on gender awareness, systemic racism and oppression of minorities.

Alex didn't really get all this. Whilst his school was multicultural, including quite a few African-Americans, Asians, and a sparse collection of Indians and several other minor ethnicities, it was predominantly white.

Despite this, there was no judging others, and any conflicts that occurred never had anything to do with race. Although racist comments had been thrown in the heat of the conflict, but this wasn't due to some inherent racist trait of any individual, just people who couldn't think of any better insults.

There was one freshmen who simply didn't fit in with others, and was generally unpleasant to be around. Despite that, Alex admired his ability to still be outspoken and try engage with others.

All the political and social justice movements seemed to have no relation with his life, almost as if it was happening in a different country. He didn't agree with most of them, but there were still plenty of people, even at his school, which jumped on the bandwagon of social justice. He was afraid to speak out in school for fear of being judged by his opinions because of this.

While he was quiet and avoided others at school, he was very active on the internet at home. He enjoyed reading manga, even the terrible ones, web serials, and also played World of Warcraft despite how old the game was.

He was the guild leader of a guild which was just average in the game, but full of friends who challenged bosses, raids and events all the time. It was the highlight of his life.

~~~~~

"Zac, how is your arm feeling?" Jake, the football team quarterback, asked his friend and teammate who had injured his arm over the weekend at the pallet fire gathering they held.

"As if it was never injured in the first place. I will be ready for practice after school."

"Great! I'm glad to hear it."

Just as Jake patted Zac on the shoulder and was about to return to his seat before the start of class, a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes wrapped her arms around him and pressed her body tight against him, squishing her melon sized breasts against his sturdy chest.

"Haha, Jessica, care to sit next to me?" Jake said with a helpless smile.

"Of course!" Jessica gleefully responded, pulling him down into a seat before occupying the seat next to them. The two of them where the Romeo and Juliet of the school, football quarterback and head cheerleader.

They had been dating for the past six months since the beginning of the term, and their flame was still strong. Jake was taller than everyone else at 6'1", a body full of compact muscles, the star football quarterback, and kind to everything.

Jessica was debated as one of the most beautiful girls in school, and countless boys fantasised about her despite the fact she was already in a relationship. She was one of the taller girls at 5'5", and seemed to be friendly with everyone.

Around them sat another two people from their clique.

Timothy Morgon, who had curly blond hair which he styled and put wax in. He was the kind who maintained a tan year round, wore sea shell necklaces and surf brand clothes. This is despite them being nowhere near the ocean, but nobody judged him based off that. He usually hung out with the footballers, but was someone who would often float around jumping out of different groups while socialising.

Then there was Leon Koch, a student who transferred from Germany when his family moved over here 3 years ago. Despite that, he only had a slight German accent when he talked. He liked to play tennis and soccer, and was quite judgemental of others, often calling them dumb. Despite that, he got along quite well with the footballers.

There were several other groups of friends who sat together in the classroom, from a random girls clique, two arts students, two music enthusiasts, hip hop kids, performing arts divas and a couple of individuals who were separate from their general friends group but chatted with one another instead.

There were three African Americans and two Asians also in the class, each with their own likes and passions.

The teacher for Honors English, Ms. Greenwood, entered the class and placed her books on the desk at the front of the class.

"Okay, students, you all know the routine, it's time to check attendance."

Ms. Greenwood was in her early 30s and dressed professionally. She never smiled, but was very attentive towards any student's needs. Seeing all the students in the class were still talking to one another with exception of a few, she smacked the folder with the class register in it on the teacher's desk.

"Ahem! Everyone please be quiet! I am now taking attendance."

She had expected to have to tell them a few times, but for some reason the classroom immediately shut up.

'No, their mouths are still moving. But why aren't they saying anything, or I can't hear them?' She thought to herself in the split moment before the floor of the classroom was covered in a giant complex magic circle which emitted a bright blue line wherever its line passed.

Everyone noticed this and half of the room jumped out of their chairs in panic. The other half froze like a deer in the headlights as the shock. Some seemed to be shouting, but their voices simply didn't come out.

The entire room lit up with a bright blue light before the walls, floor, ceiling and even furniture flew into the infinite distance and were replaced by a giant blue vertical corridor of light, much like travelling through a worm hole in some science fiction movie.

The students and teacher didn't feel like they were moving at all, but everything else around them were the things moving.

A distant sight of a circular stone room with a large group of hooded people and medieval knights. The room flew at them before enveloping the class and making the wormhole vanish.

Jake and Zac, the football players, managed to barely land on their feet, but the rest of the class tumbled onto the floor in embarrassing positions.

Alex was a bit worse than the others, as he had originally been lying down with his face in his arms on the desk, he hadn't heard anything as all sound was cut off and didn't see the light until his desk and chair flew off into the infinite distance.

He was extremely panicked and didn't know how to react, so once he landed in the stone room, immediately falling face first on the stone ground. Nobody was in the mood to laugh at him however, as they all had trembling legs and were hyperventilating. A couple of the girls even started crying.

The same magic circle which pulled them from their classroom was etched in the ground in a blue luminescent etching. The powder used to form it was definitely extremely expensive, beyond what anybody who were just summoned could imagine.

Knights wearing large crimson and gold armor stood around the summoning circle with their swords drawn and aligned in front of them, the tips of the blade resting on the stone ground.

They were constantly ready for battle and would raise and swing their sword in a split second if they were commanded or deemed necessary.

In front of the class, the most beautiful woman anyone had ever seen stepped in between the nights as she waved the robed spellcasters to retire from the room.

She was nearly six feet tall, with sharp golden eyes and silky silver hair held in place with two ruby oriental hair pins, long silver locks cascading down her back and over her shoulders. She wore a multi-layered red dress which was a bit rustic in materials, but had excellent seam work which made it cling to her well-endowed figure with all the right curves, matching her beauty nonetheless.

"Welcome, heroes. I am Princess Zoerina. I understand you must be frightened and confused," the princess said with a temperate smile.

An African-American student who was dressed in a hip-hop style with corn roll hair and a cap, Elija, stood up with clenched fists and shouted at the self-proclaimed princess while pointing at, "What the fuck is this!? Where am I!?"

The guards reacted visibly at this provocation and went to raise their swords, but the princess stopped them with a casual raise of her hand.

"I understand you are confused, young hero. We have summoned you to our world to save us from a perilous future."

The English teacher, Ms. Greenwood stepped forth in front of the students and resolutely confronted the princess of world defying beauty, although her slightly quivering arms she was trying to hold still betrayed her fear.

"Ahem, Miss Zoerina, can you please explain the situation to us a little better. I think everyone is still feeling shellshocked."

"Of course, however, I doubt this is the ideal place for such an explanation. If you would all follow me to the throne room, the king and high ministers are waiting to explain everything to you."

"Just… Princess, give us a moment to calm down."

"I would like to say take as long as you need, but I am a bit pressed for time, so please do make it brief."

Ms Greenwood nodded to the princess who appeared only a year or two older than her own students but commanded a powerful sense of authority which seemed impossible to go against.